Sally Field to Star in Spielberg's 'Lincoln?'

Though we haven't heard much about Steven Spielberg's Abraham Lincoln biopic, Lincoln, Newsweek seems to think Sally Field has been cast as Lincoln's wife, Mary Todd Lincoln. All we know so far is that Liam Neeson has signed to play Lincoln, and according to IMDb, Marcia Gay Harden was rumored to be up for the role of Mary Todd. But things seemed to be put on hold once Spielberg decided to direct Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls, and with a strike looming, we weren't sure whether the director would have time to helm another film -- let alone which film that would be.

But in a Newsweek article discussing a new exhibit at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, "Mary Todd Lincoln: First Lady of Controversy," they come right out and say that Liam Neeson and Sally Field will be playing Lincoln and Mary Todd respectively in the new Spielberg film. In her later years, Mary Todd was committed to an insane asylum, but only after three of her four kids had died and her husband was shot to death while she held his hand. But was she really insane? Spielberg will base his film on the book Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, by Doris Kearns Goodwin. According to the Amazon description, "Team of Rivals doesn't just tell the story of Abraham Lincoln. It is a multiple biography of the entire team of personal and political competitors that he put together to lead the country through its greatest crisis. Here, Doris Kearns Goodwin profiles five of the key players in her book, four of whom contended for the 1860 Republican presidential nomination and all of whom later worked together in Lincoln's cabinet." Sally Field is currently starring on the TV show Brothers & Sisters (for which she just won an Emmy), and so for her to be able to take on the role, I assume she'll have to do so while the show is on hiatus. As of now, nothing is official.